Method of treating cooper ores.



No. 890,563. PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908.

J. T.y JONES.

METHOD 0F TREATING COPPER ORES.

'APPLIOATION FILED $313.6, 190e. v

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

"IHIIIIHIIIIIIIW No. 890,563. PATENTED .TUNE 9, 1908.

J. T. JONES. METHOD OP TREATING COPPER GRES.

APPLIOATION FILED PEB. 6. 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

@QM/MQW?,

fywerzf.'

UNITED STATES;

,PATENT OFFICE.

`.IoHN T. JoNEs, OI IRON MOUNTAIN, MIcIII'eAIxI,y AssIGNOR or ONE-HALFTo GEORGE A. IST. CLAIR, oF DULUTII,l MINNEsoTA.

METHOD OF TREATING COPPER ORES.

No. 890,563.'l

Specification of'Lettex-s Patent.

Patented June 9, 1908.

`App1ication filed February 6, 1908. Serial N o. 414,527.

Zen of the United States, residing at Iron" Mountain, in the county 'ofDickinson. rand. 5' Stateo'f Michigan, have invented aA new and. usefulImprovement in Methods of Treating. of which the following is a speci- ICopper Ores-I fica-tion.'

My invention relates to an vimproved method of extracting and saving thecopper contents of certain copper-bearing ores and more especially thoseores in which the copper occurs inthe form, of oXfids,V carbonates orsuhids, or in ,two or more .such forms, and is 'associated with iron inone or more such forms, as' well as 4earthy substances.

It has been usual'hltherto to treat such 1 ores ina smeltingfurnacef'by-melting all the constituents thereotto'the: fluid' state tocause them to separate according gto their specific graviti'es.v Thistreatment made neccssary the subjectionof'the mass of ore for aprolonged time to a temperature suilicient to iquefy the most refractoryconstituent.

My object is to improve upon the method, hitherto practiced asdescribed', of treating copper ores of the Igeneralclass mentioned forthe purpose of greatly 'simplilyingand rendering more economic theextraction and `-saving of the proper content.

My method involves, first, the subjection of the ore under confinementto the action of a suitable reducing gas at a temperature suficient, andfor a time'necessary, to reduce all the lmetallic constituents to themetallic state'without, however, rendering fluid either the metal orearthy constituents; and thereafter subjecting.' the ore thus reduced toa temperature which will melt and render iluid l the co pper,-or copperand all the earthy con- During the'iirst` stituentsbut not the iron. orreducing step the iron oXids, to a more or less large extent, arereduced-to metal, and

the metallic iron is rendered more or. less soft whereby 1ts particles.agglomerate .together forming a more orless honeycombed structure inthe pores of which and adhering thereto are the globules or particles ofreduced copper and the slag-making material. In

melt the metallic iron, though it may require l rase the ore is notsufficiently self-Iluxing, a

:a higher melting temperature than the copper constituent.

VFor the purpose of'carrymg out my improved method on' a commercialscale, a fur-4 nace,`or series of furnaces, must necessarilyl be of anyconstruc-- be provided, which may tion suitable for the purpose.

-In'the accompanying drawings I illustrate two furnace structures forcarrying on in succession the two main vsteps of my method,

andwhile these illustrations will serve to render clear the descriptionof my invention, ,as I prefer to practice it, there is no intention tolimit the'scope' ofmy improvements to the employment of any particular,type of apparatus. y Y

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a view, partly in ysection ,andpartly inl eleva.n tion, 'of a furnace structure devised for carryingout the reducing step; and Fig. 2 a section' of an open-hearth furnaceof a common construction in which the second main step of my Imethod maybe practiced.

3 is a coal-burning furnace in which the reducing gas is generated andfrom .which it is discharged through a flue 4. through a bell-valve 5 atthe topl and blast is supplied through a twyer 6. Theunvolatilizedproducts of combustion are withdrawn as they accumulatethrough an outlet 7. 8 is a rotary inclined cylinder abutting gastightagainst the structure 3. It is open at its lower end to receive thegases discharged through the Ilue 4. The cylinder 8 has meansnot shownfor rotating it and may rest on rollers 9 in a common manner.

10 is a second cylinder or elongation of the cylinder 8, the jointbetween the two .being gas tight. Surrounding the upper end ot" thecylinder l() is a hopper structure ll and eommunicating with the lowerend-portion of the cylinder l() are air-inlet pipes l2 leading from v 'acommon supply-pipe i3.. On the cylimler 8 near its upper end is ahopper-,i4 proyided with a valve l5 and comiminicating with a pipe 16which terminates about the axial eenter of the cylinder.

In practice, the cylinder 8 may bc a hun dred or more feet in length andthe cylinder l() of the same length or somewhat shorter.

The ore to be treated is fed into thel hopper 11' either in lump form orotherwise, and in the rotation of the cylinders moves slowly down wardto the lower end ot the cylinder 8. The vole tile products of combustionfrom the. furnace 3 move upward through the cylinders and dischargeatthe hopper 11.- The said hot products of combustion constituting-areducing gas mingley with yair entering or forced into the cylinderthrough the pi es I' 12v and the ore, as it moves through the cy in--der 10, is subjected to an oxidizing temperalsulicient to suitablydeoxidize the orre Without fusing the metals or earthy matter. As

the ore nears the lowerend of the cylinder. the deoxidized ironparticles naturally agglomerate and each lump of the ore will become ahoneycombed or sponge structure with particles or globules of copper andearthy constituents, such as silica, alumina,

lime, etc., aswell as any unreduced iron oxids incorporated therewith oradhering thereto. Y To facilitate the reducing action in the cylinder 8a comparatively small quantity' of bituminous coal may be occasionallyfed into the 'cylinder 8 through the `valvod hopper 14 to mix with theore and undergo a distilling process which will cause fresh volatilehydrocarbons to mix with the ore as it descends.

Beneath the flue 4 I show a chamber or pi't ,17 into Which the ore isdischarged from the lower end of the cylinder 8. This pit is capable ofreceiving a car 18 Whiclrmay be moved quickly into and out of the sameto v,stand beneath the outlet end of the cylinder 8 and receive the oreas it is discharged therefrom. Means should be provided for preventingthe entrance of any material quantity of air to the pit which, bymingling with the reducing gas lin the cylinder 8, would tend tomaterially affect their reducing action. It vWill be understood that theore discharged into the car 18 is more or less thoroughly reduced, andsubstantially all the metallic contents are in metallic form; A 19 (Fig.2) is a regenerative furnace of a lcommon type having theopen-hearthnielting-chamber 20. The chamber 20 is main-- tained at atemperature of, say, from 20000 F. to 22000 F., thetemperature-supplying gases being of a neutral nature in their actionupon ore smelted in the vhearth in the sense of being neither oxidizingnor reducing. The chamber 20 is-provided'with doors 21 and a'tap-hole22. A

/When the car 18 is lilled, as described, it is withdrawn from the pit17 and the reduced ore therein covered with coal-dust, or the like, toshield it from the oxidizing action of air. The contents of the car arecharged into the furnace 2() and there subjected to the tem` eraturetherein Which is maintained at the egree necessary, as sta-ted to meltthe copper and slag making materials, but

-insuilicient to render iluid the metallic iron.

As. the coplper and slag-making material itruns out of the honeycombediron, and as the copper is heavier than the slag the two se arate byravity. When all or nearly all t e copper as run out of the metalliciron the latter may be raked out through the doors 21.

The copper and slag are tapped out through the opening 22.

Neary all of the coppercontents of the original ore may be extracted bymy method described, and saved Aina very pure condition.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent isi 1. Themethodof treating ore containing i copper and iron in non-metallic formto recover the copper, which consists in iirst subjecting the, ore underreducing conditions to a temperature that Will reduce metal ,producingconstituents to a metallic state, and thereupon subjecting the reducedore to a higher temperature suflicient to render fluid the copperconstituent Without melting the metallic iron constituent and causingthe said constituents to separate from each other.

2. rlhe method of treating 'orecontaining earthy matter and iron andcopper in nonmetallic form to recover the copper, which consists infirst subjecting'the ore under reducing conditions to a temperature thatwill reduce metal producing constituents to a metallic state, andthereupon subjecting the reduced ore to a higher temperature sufficientto render fluid the copper. and slag making constituents Without meltingthe metallic iron constituent and causing the molten constituents toseparate froin the Yiron and from each other.

A. U. THORIEN. R. A.ScnAFEn.

